Last season was a learning curve for [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag]. In addition to making the transition to the wide open pace of Big 12 football, he had to learn a new position.
At Indiana, McCullough was strictly used as an edge rusher but at Oklahoma, he played the cheetah position. In that position, he had to drop in pass coverage as well as play like a linebacker.
You could tell he was never completely comfortable in pass coverage. That is to be expected when you haven’t done it at the collegiate level. Justin Harrington’s loss hurt the Sooners cheetah depth and possibly overextended McCullough’s role. Harrington was probably going to be the one they relied upon on passing downs.
McCullough also dealt with injuries at the end of the year. He said he should be 100% by the end of spring practice.
“Both of my knees got injured against Oklahoma State while I was getting cut blocked a couple of different times during the game,” McCullough said. “So, they kind of messed both of them up during that game. So, I finished the rest of the season. I had meniscus surgery after the season on my left knee. Then I had quad tendonitis on my right, so rehabbing both of those. But we’re back feeling good though.”
McCullough said it was frustrating when that happened because it happened on back-to-back series. McCullough is undergoing another position switch, moving to WILL linebacker.
That’ll allow him to rush the passer more and cover tight ends more. He is still doing a lot of cheetah but has been doing more at the inside linebacker spot.
Just another piece of versatility for this defense to use.
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